









^ 






HYGIENIC REQUIREMENTS. 



School Furniture 



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GP A. BO BRICK, Civil Engineer, 



/ 

ico Nassau Street 

NEW YORK. 



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PBICE 50 CENTS. 



Press of Exchange Printing Co., 47 Broad Street.. 



Copyright, 1892, 
By G. A. BOBRICK. 



\ ( & 

'"ft 1 



INTRODUCTION. 



to HE subject of the hygienic requirements of school-rooms, 
*-< and of school furniture, has been engaging the attention 
of scientists, physicians and teachers for the last half 
century, during which time numerous reports before educa- 
tional societies, and articles in magazines, have been accumu- 
lating, both in this and in other countries. But, as yet, so far 
as the author of this treatise is aware, no publication exists 
that treats the whole matter comprehensively ; and, in present- 
ing to the public his own views on one branch of the subject, — 
that of the proper construction of school furniture, — he thinks 
he is rendering a service to teachers, school committees, parents, 
and all interested in the physical well-being of the young, by 
indicating the scattered sources from which information on the 
subject may be had, and by quoting at some length whatever 
has seemed to him of value in publications alluded to. 

To one unfamiliar with the subject, the dangers pointed out 
in the following pages as likely to arise from defective school- 
rooms, and more particularly from improperly adapted furni- 
ture, may seem purely imaginary, but he will probably be sur- 
prised when he sees the long list of writers who, like the author, 
believe these dangers to be real. Independently, however, of 
all preconceived opinions on the subject, when we reflect that, 
if we only begin in infancy, the human frame can purposely 



INTRODUCTION. 

and by design be, on the one hand, contorted and disfigured to 
almost any possible extent, as witness Chinese feet, flat-headed 
Indians, and acrobats as supple almost as India rubber ; or, on 
the other hand, moulded to almost any perfection of form, as 
shown by Greek and Roman athletes, does it not behoove all 
who have the charge of rearing young children, to adopt every 
device that will guard them from involuntary injuries at school, 
"where they pass much of their time, whether arising from 
rooms, light, furniture, heat and cold, or ventilation ?. The sub- 
ject is a broad one, and merits all the study and attention that 
has been or can be given to it. 



HYGIENIC REQUIREMENTS 



School Furniture. 



lZ?) VERY ONE is aware that the bodies of children are easily 
Cfy affected by external influences. "As the twig is bent 
^ the tree is inclined," is no less true of children than of 
plants. An ignorant parent will be delighted to see his infant 
child walking at an age when he should be creeping ; but he 
learns later, perhaps, that this precocity has made his child bow- 
legged for life. Near-sightedness, which once was rare, has 
now become prevalent and is increasing to-day, although the 
cause of it in many cases has been ascertained and a remedy 
provided.. Round shoulders, curvature of the spine, difficulty 
of respiration, distortion of the upper part of the body, and 





Figure 1. 



other physical deformities which mar the symmetry of the 
frame, frequently make their appearance among growing chil- 
dren, and, if the cause be not discovered and removed, the 




2 HYGIENIC REQUIREMENTS 

adult may bear through life a misshapen form, when in infancy 
he may have had a perfect one. 

These evils not long since attracted the attention of scien- 
tists in Europe, who made a study of them and found that in 
most cases they are traceable to the use,— while the body is 
yet unformed and susceptible to all external influences,— of 
desks and seats, in school and at home, that are not properly 




Ipigure 2. 




Figure 3. 




Figure 4. 



adapted to the height and size of the pupil. In every class 
of a school the pupils vary as much in stature as they do in 
intelligence. They are classified as to the latter ; but, tall or 
short, stout or slight, all members of the same class are made 
to occupy desks and chairs of the same general make, — too 
high and large for some, too low and small for others ; what 
wonder, then, that the above-mentioned results are of com- 



mon occurrence 



OF SCHOOL FURNITURE. S 

The subject itself has received greater notice abroad than in 
this country ; although, singularly enough, it was an American 
named Barnard who, in 1854, first called attention to the various 
physical defects before cited, and attributed them to the desks 
and seats used by children in schools. Whether it was due to 
his suggestion, or that the subject spontaneously engaged 
European attention at the same epoch, there soon after appeared 
in the Swiss, German, French, English and Russian literature 
and periodicals, articles on the same subject by the following 
eminent writers : Francis Fonk (1854); Dr. Schreber, of Leipsic, 
Saxony (1858); Dr. Schraube, of Halle, Prussia (1859); Lanze, of 
Brunswick, Germany (1862); Dr. Passavan, of Frankfort-on- 
the-Main, Prussia (1863); and Freihang, of Leipsic, Saxony 
(1863). 

A very important article by Dr. Farner, of Zurich, Switzer- 
land, in 1863, contributed to swell public interest in the subject, 
and call out further contributions. Among the later articles 
are especially notable those of Dr. Hellem, of JSTeufchatel, 
Switzerland ; Prof. Meyer, of Zurich, Switzerland ; Dr. Paroff, 
of Berlin, Germany ; Dr. Cohn, of Breslau, Prussia ; Dr. 
Hodgins, of Toronto, Canada (1876, 1886) ; Dr. Dukes, of Lon- 
don, England (1887) ; Dr. Newsholme, of London, England 
(1887) ; Dr. Carpenter, of London, England (1887) ; Dr. Eris- 
mann, of St. Petersburg, the present Professor of Hygiene in 
the University of Moscow, Russia ; and many others.' 

In this country the subject of "School Hygiene" has re- 
ceived the attention of many able and eminent scientists and 
physicians, and a large number of books, pamphlets and re- 
ports have been published, and lectures delivered, in which 
the questions of school furniture and ventilation are discussed. 

Among the most notable articles are those of Professor 
Bowditch, of Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.; Dr. 
Frederick Winsor, of Winchester, Mass.; Dr. Geo. L. Rice, 
of North Adams, Mass. ; Dr. Burnham ; Dr. Wight, of Win- 



4 HYGIENIC REQUIREMENTS 

Chester. Mass.; Dr. Geo. Derby, of Boston, Mass.; Dr. J. C. 
V. Smith; Dr. C. W. Williams, of Boston, Mass.; Dr. Abbott, 
of Wakefield, Mass. ; Dr. Woodward ; Dr. E. G. Loring, of New 
York ; Dr. R. H. Derby, of New York ; Dr. Risley, of Philadelr 
phia, Pa. ; Dr. J. D. Philbrick ; Dr. A. W. Calhoun, of Atlanta, 
vGa. ; Dr. W. T. Harris, of Concord, Mass. ; and others. 

From the report of the United States Bureau of Educa- 
tion we learn that in 1889* the population of the United States 
was 60,971,114. In the school-year of 1888-89 there were in the 
216,330 public schools of the* United States 12,325,411 f children. 
Add to these the number of pupils in the incorporated academies 
and the private schools (1,401,163), and the number of pupils 
in the evening and business schools, schools for the defective, 
dependent and the delinquent classes (288,280), and we have an 
aggregate of 14,014,854 pupils at school. That is to say, nearly 
one-fourth (23". 1 <f) of the population are at school, and subject to 
the physical as well as the mental influences of school-life. 

To investigate the hygienic influences of this occupation of 
school-going, and offer suggestions as to the means of improv- 
ing these influences, is a public duty. 



* 1890, Population of the United States, - (52,622,250 (increase, 1,651,136) 

i 1890, Pupils in the Public Schools, 12,697,196 (increase, 371,785) 

1889, Population of the United Stated, - - 60,971,114 

" Pupils in Public Schools (Primary and Grammar), - 11,809,259 

*' Pupils in Public High Schools, - - 482,000 

•*• Pupils in Public State and City Normal Schools, - - 23,082 

•'' Pupils in Public Universities and Colleges, - - - 11,070 

Pupils in Private Schools (Primary and Grammar), - 1,122,000 

■" Pupils in Private Academies, etc., - - - 186,461 

" Pupils in Private Normal Schools, - - - 4,487 

■" Pupils in Private Colleges for Women only, - - - 14,917 

" Pupils in Private Universities and Colleges, - - 41,549 

1 il Pupils in Private Schools of Science, Theology, Law, etc., - 31,749 

Total number of pupils in Public and Private Schools, - 13,726,574 

(equal to 22.51 % of the total population of the United States.) 

Total number of pupils in Evening and Business Schools, etc., - 288,280 

Total number of persons receiving an education, - - 14,014,854 

(equal to 23.1 % of the total population of the United States.) 



OP SCHOOL FURNITURE. 5 

It must be considered, that this one-fourth of our population 
whose occupation is under investigation, are all in the growing, 
formative, susceptible stage of life, not only most readily, but 
most permanently affected by every influence to which they are 
subjected. Without doubt the instinct of childhood is for fre- 
quent, almost constant, change of position and interest during 
the waking hours, and any steady occupation within a restricted 
space, may be fairly termed unnatural for children. But since 
the vast majority of children cannot have an " education," with- 
out some degree of violation of what may be termed the normal 
conditions of childhood, and since some education is a necessity, 
it becomes of the first importance to maintain a constant, 
jealous watch over the health of school children, and to perse- 
vere in the attempt to harmonize school methods and influences 
with the healthy instincts of childhood. Confinement, vitiated 
air, enforced quiet, prolonged mental effort, the use of the eyes 
on small objects in trying arrangements, are all, in some degree, 
conditions necessary to school, but threatening danger to the 



SUMMARY OF PUPILS BY GRADE. 



^Elementary, - - 12,931,259 (number for each 100 of population, 21.21) 

Secondary, - - 668,461 (number for each 100 of population, 1.09) 

Superior, - 126,854 (number for each 100 of population, 0.21) 

Number of persons of school age (years. 6 to 20), - - 20,736,179 

(equal to 34 % of the population.) 

Number of children of school age (years 6 to 16 inclusive), - - 15,852,490 

(equal to 26 % of the population.) 
67 % of the youth from 6 to 20 years, or 90 % of the youth from 6 to 16 years, 
inclusive, attend school. 

In 19 years the value of property owned for public schools increased from 
$130,383,008 to $323,573,532, or more than twice as fast as the population. 

During the same period the annual expenditures for the maintenance of the 
public schools have risen from $63,396,666 to $132,129,600 (an increase of from 
$1.64 to $2.16 per capita of population). 

Total annual expenditures for educational purposes (public and private), $171,- 
739,317, equal to $2.82 per capita of population. 

Annual cost of education, in the public schools, for each pupil in attendance, 
$16.51. 

Number of male teachers in the public schools (1889) 124,929; number of 
female teachers 227,302 ; total, 352,231. 



6 HYGIENIC REQUIREMENTS 

health of the scholars. To reduce this to a minimum, and 
there maintain it, is the duty of those who have charge of 
the rearing of children. 

No subject within the scope of investigations can be of 
greater importance to the country, or of more vital and 
anxious interest to every family in it, and since the public 
interest in the schools is so warm, and the public assurance 
of their immense value is so complete, as to cause a natural 
jealousy of any criticism of them, lest it should prove a cover 
for an attack on our school system which might in some way 
impair its usefulness, it may not be inappropriate at the begin- 
ning of this inquiry to state that there is about it nothing of 
hostility, and that its aim is to make an impartial investigation. 
Like every other occupation, school-going must have its liability 
to peculiar hygienic disadvantages. - Let us* seek to discover 
these, and also the means whereby they may be reduced to a 
minimum. 

Some time ago, the State Board of Health of Massachu- 
setts took up the subject of "School Hygiene," and instructed 
their secretary, Dr. Geo. Derby, to send out circulars to the 
correspendents of the Board, calling for information based 
upon personal observations. 

Dr. Burnham, a very able correspondent of the Board, sent 
some photographs, illustrating the effects of position upon the 
spinal column of a pupil occupying a desk and seat which are 
in faulty relations to each other, and improperly adapted to 
the height and size of the occupant. 

Accompanying the photographs Dr. Burnham sent a letter 
to the Board, of which the following is an abstract : 

"My attention has been directed for several years to the^ 
effects of position in schools upon the spinal column. I was 
first induced to notice it in our high school girls, from the fact 
that they could be pointed out from grammar school girls of 
the same age by their awkward, stooping attitude and swing- 



OF SCHOOL FURNITURE. 



ing step, and I was led to trace it to some cause satisfactory 
with theory. 

"While investigating the cause of so much awkwardness 
of position of the pupils while in their seats in the primary 
schools, where but little care is taken in the making of small 
seats, I noted some of the common attitudes of the children 
after they had been in their seats for half an hour or more, 

□. , — ,. n 







Figure 5. 



8 HYGIENIC REQUIREMENTS 

and had a measure taken of their legs under the knee, and 
this I compared with the height of the chair. 

" Now, in order to prove the effect upon the muscles, and 
also to show the curvature of spine, a boy twelve years old, 
well developed, was selected and photographed, without cloth- 
ing, in several of these attitudes, thus showing every shade of 
pressure, and the effects upon the muscles,— not those under 
pressure, but more particularly those of the cavities, as the 
abdomen and thorax, — and the various curvatures of the spine. 
A well-arranged skeleton was also photographed, and, to our 
surprise, the same positions gave the same curvatures as in 
the boy." 

Figure 5 is a reproduction from Dr. Bu'rnham's photographs. 
If copies of the above cuts, and a series similar, but giving 
other views, together with photographs illustrating the effects 
of any chair and desk when in faulty relations to each other, 
and improperly adapted to the height and size of the pupil, 
could be heliotyped and distributed at teachers' conventions, a 
most impressive practical lesson would be given on the import- 
ance of position and the use of properly adapted desks and seats. 
" Were I of your profession," says another correspondent of 
the Board, " I might be better able to reply sensibly to your 
query, viz. : ' Do children suffer in health from school attend- 
ance, and whether the injury is most apt to fall on the 
osseoMs, the respiratory-, the digestive, or the nervous sys- 
tem.' My experience leads me to say that the osseous, so far 
as shape is concerned, will be badly affected by long confined 
sitting in one position, on unsuitable seats, and at ill-con- 
trived desks. Very many schools in this State, notwithstand- 
ing its boast and self-adulation, are, in matters of furniture, 
ventilation, heating apparatus, general school means and facil- 
ities, plainly and unexaggeratingly speaking, a disgrace to 
civilization and a dishonor to Massachusetts. And I am free 
to say, that were some of the attention now given to push 



OF SCHOOL FURNITURE. 




10 



HYGIENIC REQUIREMENTS 



of brain, by our educational supervisors of all degrees in 
State and town, given to these neglected demands, the brain 
would not only not lose thereby, but positively gain." 

Dr. J. C. V. Smith calls attention to the radical defect in 
the seats of our school-rooms. Malformation of the bones, 
narrow chests, coughs ending in consumption, and death in 
middle life, besides a multitude of minor ills, have their origin 
in the school-room. To the badly constructed seats and 
writing-desks are we to look, in some measure, for the 
cause of so many distortions of the bones, spinal' diseases, 
and chronic affections, now so prevalent throughout the 
country. 

High and narrow seats, says Dr. Woodward, are not only 
extremely uncomfortable for the young scholar, tending con- 
stantly to make him restless and noisy, disturbing his temper, 
and preventing his attention to his books, but they have a 
direct tendency to produce deformity of his limbs. 

Dr. J. G. Hodgins,* in his treatise, " The School House, its 
architecture, etc.," says : "The problem of an easy seat and 
desk for a school-room is a very important one, which, like 
many other problems, has not yet received its only good 
solution." 

Desks and seats constitute the main portion of the furniture 
of the room, and upon their form, construction and arrange- 
ment will depend much of the comfort of the pupils and the 
order of the school. It is now admitted as settled principles 
applicable to all schools : 

1. That every pupil, whether old or young, should have a 
desk as well as a seat. 

2. That both should be made as comfortable and as well 
adapted to their object as possible. 

* Barrister-at-Law and Deputy Minister of Education for the Province of 
Ontario. 



OF SCHOOL FURNITURE. 11 

3. That the seats and desks should be so arranged as to 
permit each pupil to pass to and fro from his own, without 
disturbing any other in so doing. To these may be added 

4. That the more neatly and substantially the seats 
and desks are made at first, the longer they will last, and 
the greater will be the saving to the school section in the 
end. 

Tp render the seat and desk comfortable and convenient, 
both should bear a proper proportion, in height and form, 
to the size of the pupil ; so that when seated his feet should 
rest firmly on the floor, and his arms should have easy action 
on the desk, without either raising them above the proper level 
for free use, or compelling him to stoop so as improperly to 
bend the body and contract the chest. The seat should in all 
cases have a comfortable back, and be slightly higher before 
than behind, so as to give a firm position to the person 
upon it. 

It needs no argument to show that every pupil should have 
free access to his own seat. This is generally admitted with 
regard to the older scholars ; but it is equally requisite in the 
case of the younger, who are more uneasy, and require to 
leave their places more frequently. This object can only be 
effected by the use of single, or at most double, desks — that 
is, desks at which no more than two pupils sit. The single 
desk would be the more desirable in all cases. 

Each pupil should be provided with a seat and desk prop- 
erly adapted to him, as to height and distance, giving the 
usual slope of one inch in the foot to the seat. The seats 
should vary in height from 9 to 18 inches, for children of 
different sizes — the smallest occupying the seats nearest the 
platform. 

The seat should be so made that the feet of every child, 
when properly seated, can rest on the floor, and the upper 
and lower part of the leg form a right angle at the knee ; 



12 HYGIENIC REQUIREMENTS 

and the back of the seat should recline to correspond with the 
natural curves of the spine and the shoulders. The seat 
should be made as far as possible like a convenient chair. 

The desk should vary in height from 19 to 31 inches ; for 
a single pupil it should be at least 2 feet long by 16 inches 
wide, with a shelf beneath for books. The upper surface of 
the desk should slope one inch in a foot. 

In arranging the furniture of a school-room, the pupils 
should be faced towards a wall containing no windows, or if 
any, that they should have close blinds or curtains ; and that 
if possible this should be the north wall. It is also believed 
that the teacher's platform and desk should be across the end, 
and not the side, of the room, thus throwing the whole of the 
pupils more in front of him. 

Seats and desks should never be .allowed to touch the wall. 
If the size of the room will not allow a full passage next the 
wall, the desk should be kept at least six inches from it, both 
to allow the pupil near it the free use of his arm, and to keep 
him from contact with the damp, cold wall. 

A great mistake has been made in some school-houses by 
seating them in such a way as to have all the pupils in the 
room face the windows. Such an arrangement cannot be 
otherwise than injurious to the eyes of the children, as the 
strong light is constantly shining into them. Pupils should 
always be seated with their backs or sides to the windows. 

A pupil should never be assigned to a desk which does not 
correspond to his height. The desks in a school-room are usually 
so arranged that the smallest are in front of the room, near 
the teacher's platform, and the largest are in the rear. The 
scholars should be seated accordingly. The now practiced cus- 
tom of assigning uncontrolable scholars, whether tall or short, 
to desks in the front or last row is a mistake, and should be 
abolished, if the desks and seats are not capable of regulation. 
While uncontrolable pupils do, at times, deserve to be punished, 



OF SCHOOL FURNITURE. 



13 



yet no punishment should be inflicted which may leave a 
trace, in the shape of deformity, upon them. 

In a school-house without recitation rooms, or with but one 
teacher, a sufficient space in front of the platform, for classes 
during recitation, is indispensable. It should be as large as 
possible, after making full allowance for the necessary pas- 
sages. The full breadth of the room should be allowed for 
this purpose, if practicable. 

Dr. Alfred Carpenter,* in his treatise, " The Principles and 
Practice of School Hygiene," states: "Bad position in writing, 
drawing, and standing in class, or sitting upon a simple form, 
is a very prominent cause of deformity. Twisted spinal col- 
umns, malformations in chest, stooping habits and shuffling- 
gait, with many kinds of bodily ailments, follow a want of 
knowledge by the teacher upon these points." 




Figure 9. 



This result is shown in Figure 9, in which the lateral curvature 
of the spine, and the tendency to stoop, with high shoulders and 
contracted chest, are shown. Not the least evil is the influence 
which this indulgence in a wrong position has upon the eyesight. 



* One of the Examiners in State Medicine for the Universities of London anc? 
Cambridge ; lecturer on State Medicine at St. Thomas's Hospital ; and Vice- 
President of the British Medical Association. 



14 HYGIENIC REQUIREMENTS 

The bad construction of the seats and desks in ordinary- 
use in all schools has been a fruitful source of evil even in 
the great public schools of the country. 

Children are allowed to bring the eye in close proximity to 
the paper or the book, to twist the spine so that one shoulder 
is brought down and the other elevated ; the neck is so twisted 
that the axis of vision is perverted, and one eye being on a 
different level to the other, the set of muscles in use is not 
equally acted upon, so that one muscle gets to be stronger 
than the other. The axis of vision is irregular, and, the child 
becomes more and more short-sighted. 

The difference produced by book education, on the one hand, 
and athletic and muscular development, on the other, is seen 
between fox-hunters and sportsmen who are innocent of cram 
at college, or of college distinction, -and those who have been 
studious. In the one case the sight is natural, in the other 
spectacles are generally used. 

Desks must not be of an equal height for all children; 
they must be capable of regulation, so that a boy five feet 
high need not be obliged to sit at the same level as one 
four feet 'two. The taller boy has to stoop, or the shorter 
boy has to raise his head too much. The desk must not be 
too near or too far from the seat, and a flat desk is a mistake. 
The desk should incline slightly towards the child. 

There should be always a fairly curved back to the seat, so 
as to prevent fatigue to the child, and its natural consequence, 
a curve of the spinal column in the direction not intended 
by nature. The seat upon which the child sits should not be 
a flat surface, but somewhat saddle-shaped. It is discomfort 
which leads to deformity, and every effort should be made 
to obviate this. 

Every scholar should sit erect when writing, should keep 
the eyes in a parallel line with the surface of the desk, the 



OF SCHOOL FURNITURE. 



15 



^shoulders at an equal height, and the elbows close to the side, 
and not resting upon the desk itself. Weakly and delicate 
-children should have a support for the whole of the back. 

It will be conducive to excellence in the end, by producing 
a perfectly-fashioned figure, and preventing the formation of 
irregularly-developed muscles, which are visible in most people 
that we meet in the streets of a great city. 

It ,is very important that the desk for a girl should be at 
least % of an inch higher than that for a boy of the same 
height. The height of the seat may be the same for both, boy 
or girl, but the width of the seating space (i. e., the space 
between desk and back-support of chair) should be not less 
than y& of an inch greater for the girl than that for the boy. 
It is the form and the dress of the girl that render it neces- 
sary to have greater space between the desk and seat, and the 
desk and back-support. 

Dr. Bowditch, of Harvard University, U. S. A., has made 
some observations, based upon the measurements of 25,000 
children, which were published by the State Board of Health 
of Massachusetts in 1877. He tabulates the growth of the 
scholars, and finds that it varies greatly in different periods of 
school life. That up to the age of eleven or twelve, boys are 
taller and heavier than girls. The latter then begin to grow 
more rapidly, and soon surpass the boys of the same age in 
both height and weight, but after thirteen the boys catch up 
with the girls and again surpass them. The relation of weight 
to height was found to be such that at heights below 58 inches, 
boys are heavier than girls in proportion to their stature ; but 
that at heights above 58 inches, the reverse is the case. Local 
hygienic conditions have considerable influence upon the phy- 
sique of growing children, and the sanitary condition of a com- 
munity may be discovered by an examination of the children 
in the elementary schools of the district. 



16 



HYGIENIC REQUIREMENTS 



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03 


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T-l 


OS 


J> 


IO 


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-sH 


Tl 






"* 


■* 






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lO 






1-H 


T-l 






CO 


oo 


C3 


CO 


C-"? 


T)H 


IO 


00 


tH 


OS 






£- 


ia 


o 


o 


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00 


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oo 


s> 


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(N 


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-* 


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PQ O 



OF SCHOOL FURNITURE. 



IT 



CHART 

showing average Height and Weight of 13,691 boys and 10,904 
girls in the schools of Boston, Mass.— (by G. A. Bobrick, from 
Dr. Bowditch's observations.) 



AGE, YEARS. 



T9 30, 




W JX 12 13 14 15 16 « IS 19 '2Q 
AGE, YEARS. 



Males. 



Females. 



18 HYGIENIC REQUIREMENTS 

Dr. Clement Dukes,* in his treatise, "Health at School/*' 
London, 1887, states: "The question of seats in class-rooms is; 
a matter of great moment, both as to their arrangement with 
regard to the light, and their height for the comfort and health 
of the pupil. It is important for the boy, but trebly important 
for the girl, and yet in most schools no attention is paid and the- 
desks are improperly arranged." 

The great defect in most schools for girls, says Dr. Dukes, is- 
the utter neglect of physical education ; whereas it should have 
a prior claim to their intellectual education, if there be any dif- 
ference made at all. We need strong, healthy, vigorous women, 
and not fragile, fainting, insipid creatures ; and yet no attempt 
is made to produce them, during the only years in which they- 
can be produced — the years of their active growth and devel- 
opment. 

The defect in the education of girls lies in the excess to which, 
the practice of requiring lessons to be written out has been 
carried ; for with improper seats, unsuitable desks, imper- 
fect light, and several hours' continuous work, the pupils, 
become so fatigued that they lounge over the desk or table,, 
and a curved spine and prominent right shoulder result. In 
fact, it is difficult to find a girl without an abnormally curved 
back, one-sided shoulders, a prominent shoulder-blade, and 
a tilted hip. 

The lateral curvature of the spine is not entirely owing to the 
causes above mentioned ; it is partly due to the artificial support 
given to the spine during the growing years, and the general con- 
straint of the modern dress preventing the muscles from having 
good healthy work to do and thus becoming strong and capable. 
High-heeled boots, too, not only cramp the feet, but deform 
them, and the spine and pelvis as well — an effect which cannot 



* Member of the Royal College of Physicians of London, England ; Physician; 
to Rugby School ; Senior Physician to the Hospital of St. Cross, Rugby ; Howards 
Medalist of the Statistical Society of London.. 



OF SCHOOL FURNITURE. 



1S» 



be too strongly deprecated in growing girls, who are expected to 
become women and mothers. 

Girls become knock-kneed and flat-footed, causing the most 
ungainly gait, in consequence of the way in which they are 
taught to sit and allowed to stand. This deformity of knock- 





Figure 11. 




Figure 12. 



Figure 13. 



As these drawings were taken from life, they were more conveniently drawm 
from little children. 



BO 



HYGIENIC REQUIREMENTS 



knee absolutely prevents a graceful or elegant carriage of the 
person, which is so much to be desired in girls. 

For instance, girls are taught that it is unladylike to sit with 
their knees apart, and so they sit with their knees together and 
their feet apart, and with the result shown in Figure 10. When 
standing at lessons it is usually thus, and as each leg tires, 
it is rested in this position, producing knock-knee and flat- 
foot. (Figures 10, ll, 12 and 13.) 

Such deformities of person need not and should not be ; they 
-would be unknown if more care were taken at school in develop- 
ing the bodies of girls to the highest standard of beauty. 

Dr. Arthur Newsholme,* in his treatise, "School Hygiene, 
the Laws of Health in relation to School Life," 1887, states : 
" Desks and seats are the most important articles of school 
furniture, and it is unfortunate that authorities on this sub- 
ject are not agreed as to their best form. 




Figure 14. 



*Diplomate in Public Health, University of London; University Scholar and 
Gold Medalist in Medicine; Medical Officer of Health for Clapham; Medical 
Examiner of Pupil Teachers to the School Board for London; and Medical 
Referee to the Westminster and Southlands Training Colleges for Teachers. 



OF SCHOOL FURNITURE. 21 

" Various bad forms of desks are met with. The desk may 
be too high, in which case, during writing, one shoulder is 
unduly raised in order to rest the arm on the desk, and a lateral 
twist of the spine results, which in time tends to become per- 
sistent. If the desk is too low, the scholar has to bend too far 
over his work. A forward stoop and round shoulders are pro- 
duced ; the head becomes congested from being held so low, and 
there is a strong tendency for the development of near- 
sightedness. " 

Dr. Jager, in 1861, first called attention to the remarkable 
development of myopia during school life. Dr. Cohn, of Breslau, 
took up the subject, and having examined the eyes of 10,060 
children, he found 1,072 myopic, 239 hypermetropic, 23 astig- 
matic, and 396 whose vision was impaired from the effects of 
previous disease. As the testing was by lenses only, he probably 
underrated the myopia. In elementary village schools he found 
1.4$ of myopia, in town elementary -schools, 6.7 $ ; in interme- 
diate schools, 10.3$ ; in high schools, 19.7$; and in gymnasia, 
26.2$. Among medical students he found the proportion in the 
first year of study 52$, in the last year 64$. At Tubingen, Dr. 
Gartner found that of 600 theological students, 79 $ were myopic. 

Although Germany has until lately had the greatest preva- 
lence of defects of vision, it has by no means a monopoly of 
them. In all the cases investigated, the fact comes out that the 
youngest classes have the fewest myopics, and the oldest most. 
Drs. E. G. Loring and R. H. Derby, of New York, found that in 
the lowest classes 3.5$, and in the highest 26.78$ were myopic. 

The statistics furnished by the Philadelphia Committee, of 
which Dr. Risley was chairman, are peculiarly valuable, as a 
complete examination of the eye (barring the use of atropine) 
was made in each case. 2,422 eyes were examined by the 
committee, and 174 afterwards by Dr. Jackson, of West Ches- 
ter, on the same plan, each case requiring on an average 
twenty-eight minutes' examination. 



22 



HYGIENIC REQUIREMENTS 



The accompanying chart (Figure 15) from Mr. B. Carter's 
pamphlet on "Eyesight in Schools," shows the result. The 
horizontal lines give the percentages, the vertical lines the 
different classes. The myopia was found to increase from 
4.27$ in primary classes (average age, 8J4 years) to 19.33$ in 
normal classes, while the hypermetropia diminished from 88.11 $ 
to 66.84$, the proportion of normal vision (emmetropia) re- 
maining nearly stationary. It is evident from the statistics 
just advanced that school life has, under conditions which 
commonly prevail, a most deleterious influence on eyesight. 

Figure 15. 



Hypermetropia 88. 11 % 



8 -.2 
d — ^ *^ m 

0) 1i J 'S tn 

« 3 2 a * 

'-> L H o 

l " H g <~ o d 



H., 66.84 



SB 



& 2 

o a ►< o - 

- £> d <" =3 

S a d 



« d 




Emmetropia 7.01 # 
Myopia 4.27$ 



Average Age, 8^ 11^ 14 17^ 



SCHOOL. 



Many defects and impairments of vision may arise and in- 
crease in childhood without giving alarm to children, or com- 
ing to the notice of teachers and parents, if they are unac- 
companied by decided pain, as is the case in certain not 



OF SCHOOL FURNITURE. 23 

uncommon injuries to vision. And in regard to the frequency 
of such cases, we should give great weight to the opinion of 
oculists, and of that portion of general practitioners of medi- 
cine, whose attention happens to have been drawn to the evil 
in question. It may well be that other physicians and educators, 
whose experience covers very few cases of injury to eyesight 
from school- work, may not have had their attention called to 
a danger which really threatens many children whom they 
attend in sickness, because that danger is so insidious. 

In order to be able to speak positively as to the frequency 
and degree to which eyesight suffers in school, we require ex- 
tended and systematic observations with "test-type," such as 
have been made in Germany and in St. Petersburg, Russia, 
and reported in tabular form. 

From the several causes which tend to produce defects of 
vision during school life, the following may be quoted from 
manuscripts and lectures delivered by some of our most dis- 
tinguished professors and physicians : 

Dr. Liebreich, in his lectures on "School Life," has shown 
that short-sightedness is developed almost exclusively during 
school life, by the use of improperly constructed desks and 
seats, in many cases by developing a pre-existing tendency, 
but in others where no predisposition is found, by actually 
producing the defect, so that the infirmity is continually on 
the increase. 

Short-sightedness is not only in itself a direct inconven- 
ience to the individual, but the efforts of the child during 
its growing years to assume a posture favorable to seeing, 
cause stooping and curvature of the spine, so that deformity 
and consequent ill-health are the frequent results. Besides 
this, by insufficient light and an inappropriate placing of the 
light, a diminution of acuteness and of endurance of vision 
is produced, and work in consequence has to be given up or 
diminished. 



24 HYGIENIC REQUIREMENTS 

The question of eyesight is so intimately concerned with 
the construction of class-rooms, and their arrangements of 
lighting, together with appropriate desks and seats, that the 
subject must be referred to. The question of eyesight, as 
affected by education, is becoming a very serious national 
one. It is a fact, that children working under unfavorable 
conditions, are sustaining serious injury to their eyesight by 
the production of short sight. 

Near-sightedness is also due to the prolonged exertion of 
the eyes involved in seeing near objects. School work usually 
lasts from four to six hours, and the home lessons some- 
times nearly as long. During a great part of this time the 
accommodating apparatus of the child's eyes is being strained ; 
the tissues of the eyes being soft and compressible, evil 
results are apt to occur, especially- when there is hereditary 
tendency to defects of vision. 

The posture of the scholar is very important. The desks 
and seats shpuld be so constructed as not to allow the 
scholar to lean forward with a bent head. In writing we 
have a good instance of the principles involved, and the 
practice to be followed. The movements required are of a 
complicated character, and, like the complicated movements 
concerned in speech and walking, should be automatically 
performed. In fact, the more automatic and the less con- 
scious the movements become, the greater is the degree of 
precision attained. Hence, as in piano playing, where the 
pupil is required to look at the music, and not at the keys, 
the pupil who is writing should be required to sit erect, and 
directly facing the desk, and should fix his attention on the 
matter to be written, rather than on the movement of his 
fingers. 

The desk should be at a proper angle to the eyes, and 
the eyes should not be allowed to come nearer than twelve 
inches from the book or slate. Two feet of desk space in 



OF SCHOOL FURNITURE. 



25- 



length should be allowed to each pupil ; the depth of the 
desk should be at least fifteen inches, and the seat twelve 
inches deep. The copy-book should be aslant, to allow for 
the bend in the writing, otherwise a twisted position is 
necessary. 

A flat desk is particularly bad, necessitating a cramped 
position, and interference with free respiration. 

If the desk is too far from the seat, a forward stoop, with 
round shoulders, flat chest, and injury to the eyes is produced.. 




Figure 16. 



If the seat is too high, the feet swing, the vessels and 
nerves at the back of the legs are compressed, and the sensa- 
tion of "pins and needles" is produced. 

This is also very apt to occur if, as is commonly the case. 
the seat is too narrow to support the whole length of the thigh. 
If too low the thighs are bent up towards the body, and a 
cramped position is produced. If without a back-rest, or with 
an improperly adapted back-rest, the pupil tends to lean for- 
ward on the desk, thus preventing free expansion of the 
lungs. 

An inadequate amount of light, or an ill-directed light, 
causes an undue strain on the eyes. The amount of window 
area required in a school-room is variously stated as from* 



26 HYGIENIC REQUIKEMENTS 

one-fourth to one-tenth of the floor area of the room. Dr. 
R. Marus recommends to multiply the length, breadth and 
height of the room together, and to take the square root 
of this for the area of the windows. Dr. Cohn proposes that 
thirty square inches of glass (not including the window 
frames) should be allowed for every square foot of floor 
area. 

It is evident that the amount of window-area required will 
vary with external conditions. Thus, in towns more should be 
allowed than in the country, and more in a narrow street than 
when there is an uninterrupted outlook. Also, more is required 
in the lower than the higher stories. Windows should always 
reach nearly to the ceiling, as the best light comes from the 
highest point, and much of the cheerfulness of a school-room 
depends upon the amount of sky which is visible. Plate glass 

is preferable, being thicker, and allowing less escape of heat. 

f 
If the access of light is barred by an opposite wall, the wall 

should be painted or whitewashed. It is probable that the 

preparation of home lessons in semi-darkness is responsible for 

much injury to the eyes. 

The makers of school books and the committees who choose 
these books have something to answer for in increasing the 
number of near-sighted eyes ; but in this respect, American 
children are more fortunate, for their books are generally printed 
with much better type and on better paper than those issued 
in Europe. 

Books for children should not be too large and heavy, the 
spaces between words and lines should be relatively wide, and 
the lines not too long. The type should be clear and large, 
Roman being much better than Gothic type. The construction 
of such letters as h and b, v and n, should be especially 
precise. 

Dr. Cohn proposes that the type of ordinary journals should 
be 4 mm. or 1 B inch in height, though M. Javal thinks it may 



OF SCHOOL FURNITURE. 27 

t>e allowed to be 2 mm. The thickness of down and up-strokes, 
the spaces between letters and words and between lines, and 
the length of lines, all require attention. 

The following- words represent well-known sizes of type : 



So 1> 







e 






o 






•<^ 






fts 




Pica 


should 

o 






g 


Q 




a 


0) 




■«a 


Ah 




Q 


children 




: rea<J. 



No type smaller than 



be USed while teaching 



111 effects of bad desks and seats. — According to Eulen- 
berg, a distinguished German orthopaedic surgeon, 90 <f of cur- 
vatures of spine, not caused by actual bone-disease, is devel- 
oped during school life. Bad posture during school work, and 
especially the twisted position, with the left arm resting upon 
the desk during writing lessons, contribute considerably to the 
production of such curvatures. The effects are much more 
likely to be produced if the desk and seat are not properly 
adapted to each other, and to the height of the pupil. An 
upright position in writing is indispensable, and the left elbow 
should not be allowed to rest high up on the desk. 

The cramped positions induced by defective desks and seats, 
not only favor the production of a twisted spine, but also round 
shoulders and flat chest, thus impeding the functions of heart 
and lungs. The habit of leaning forward close over the copy- 
book or reading-book will produce short-sightedness ; and this 
in its turn increases the necessity for the improper postures. 
Thus a vicious circle is entered, each evil mutually intensify- 
ing the other. 



28 HYGIENIC REQUIREMENTS 

Proper desks and seats should be accurately adapted 
to each other, and to the height and size of the scholar. 

The most important points to ascertain are : (1), the distance 
between the edge of the seat and a perpendicular line dropped 
from the edge of the desk ; (2), the difference between the 
height of seat and desk, and the slope of the desk. The plumb 
line from the desk grazing the edge of the seat should be a 
negative quantity,- so as to enable the scholar to write while 
sitting erect, or resting his back against the back of his seat. 
When the scholar is too far away from the desk, he either 
bends forward into an unnatural position, or slides too far for- 
ward on his seat, and occupies an unsteady position. 

The difference between the height of seat and desk should 
not be such that the shoulders are painfully screwed up in 
writing, or, on the other hand, the pupil be obliged to lean 
forward in order to write or read. It is recommended that it 
should equal the length of the forearm, or about one-sixth the 
height of the scholar (Robson), in which case it will be found 
that the under-part of the fore-arm will rest comfortably on 
the desk- top. 

The height of the seat should correspond to the length of 
the scholar's leg from sole of foot to knee, in order that there 
may be no stretching of muscles. 

There should be a curved back to the seat, not less than, 
three inches broad, slightly tilted back, and so placed as to 
support the back just below the shoulder blades. In this way 
the movements are not interfered with, while the spine receives 
steady support. 

Long desks are, as a rule, objectionable ; children tend to 
sit with the left arm high up on the desk, in order to prevent 
copying by their neighbors, and thus produce twisting of their 
spines. 

Dr. Geo. L. Rice, a prominent physician and surgeon of 
Massachusetts, and a member of the School Committee of North 



OF SCHOOL FURNITURE. 29 

Adams, in speaking of the effect of improperly adapted desks 
and seats upon girls, says: "A chair or seat, not properly 
adapted to the pupil's size, is one of the principal causes of 
spinal disease (with consequent nervous troubles). It also pro- 
duces a contracted chest, and in the female displacement of 
uterus ; the last being induced by months and years of lean- 
ing forward to bring the eyes sufficiently near the desk before 
them. Of course, such displacements are attended by the usual 
life-time of trouble and pain." 

Dr. A. W. Calhoun,* in his paper read before the National 
Educational Association in July, 1881, on the effects of school 
work upon the eyesight of pupils, said : 

"In the school-room there are two kinds of influence that 
work injuriously upon the eyesight. Under the first are classed, 
all those things which compel the eye to strain itself in order to 
see distinctly small letters or objects ; under the second, all those 
which cause a congestion or rush of blood to the head and eyes. 
To the first belong bad ventilation and improper light, too small 
and imperfect type, pale ink, etc. To the second — the construc- 
tion and arrangement of school desks and benches, which, in 
many schools, make it next to impossible for pupils to hold 
their bodies in proper position for any length of time. 

"Very little is being said in reference to desks and seats 
though it would seem they deserve the most careful considera- 
tion on the part of those in charge of the education of children, 
since a large portion of a child's life is spent behind the one and 
upon the other. It has been contended that every pupil should 
have a desk to suit his size. The chief idea to be borne hi 
mind in the arrangement of desks is that they should be so con- 
structed that the children can sit without, becoming too rapidly 
wearied, and that the desks should not be so low as to cause the 



* Professor of Diseases of the Eye, Ear and Throat, in the Atlanta Medical 
College, and an eminent oculist of that city. 



30 HYGIENIC REQUIREMENTS 

b>ody to bend forward, nor so high as to make studying difficult, 
as in writing, for instance." 

Says a well-known writer: "It seems to me that the very 
etymology of the word education enforces the idea that the child 
is to grow better and stronger up through his school life ; that 
by proper regulation of his diet and management at home, by 
properly lighted school-rooms and properly constructed desks 
and seats, and by a better regulation of his hours of study, he 
should represent a much higher type of life when he has reached 
the age of twenty-five, than when he is just taken in hand with 
the view of giving him book knowledge. We certainly should 
not damage the eye in the process of education, and I believe 
that the damage done to the eye is to be taken as an index 
of that which is done to the other organs of the body. In 
conclusion, when every school-house in the land, and every 
school-room ; and every school desk shall have been properly 
constructed according to the most scientific investigations, 
and plenty of* good light thrown upon books properly and plainly 
printed with good ink ; when the habits of study of all children 
shall have been regulated, both in the school-room and at home, 
then do I feel convinced that, while we may not be able to banish 
these particular eye diseases from the world, without doubt will 
we be able to reduce them in number and in severity." 

Dr. C. H. Williams, in his lecture upon "School Hygiene," 
delivered under the auspices of the Massachusetts Emergency 
and Hygiene Association, to teachers in the public schools, says : 

" Since all of our knowledge of books comes to us through 
the eyes, it is of the greatest importance to use every means 
to protect the eyes from injury, and to increase their useful- 
ness. 

" The greatest danger to the health and usefulness of the eyes, 
that comes from our present methods of education, is the alarm- 
ing increase in the development of near-sightedness. This may 
be seen on a large scale among the Germans, for nearly 60 f e of 



OF SCHOOL FURNITURE. 



31 



their scholars over twenty-one years of age are near-sighted. 
The prevention of this condition is now occupying- their most 
serious attention, for near-sightedness, or myopia, as it is more 
properly called, is not a mere inconvenience ; it is caused by 
changes in the shape of the eyeball, and these changes are gen- 
erally accompanied by diseased conditions of the internal parts 
of the eye, which tend to increase rapidly during the school 
years, and in extreme cases, may even lead to blindness. A 
strong tendency is also developed to transmit these changes from 
parent to offspring." 

All authorities agree that the principal cause of near-sighted- 
ness is the long-continued use of the eyes on near objects during 
the years of most active bodily development, say from twelve to 
eighteen. At the age of eight there is very little myopia. Dr. 
Conn found about 1 fc among young German children in a vil- 
lage school. Drs. Loring and Derby found among the school 
children of New York, from six to seven years old, 3% fo ; but as 
the children grow older, and use their eyes more constantly for 
book-work, the increase is very great. Dr. Conrad found among 
German school children of nine years, 11 ^ of myopia ; at eight- 
een it had increased to 55 $ ; and at twenty-one years, to 62 f . 

The following table of Dr. Cohn is especially instructive, for 
it shows not only the marked increase in the number of myopic 
eyes in the higher schools, but also the steady increase in the 
grade or amount of the near-sightedness in the different schools : 





Average percent- 


Average amount 




age of myopia. 


of the myopia. 


Country Schools, . 


1.4 


l 


Primary ' ' 


6.7 


l 

S3 


Intermediate " 


10.3 


1 


Polytechnic ' < 


19.7 


1 


Latin " 


26.2 


1 


Universities, 


59.0 


1 

IS 



In this increase of near-sightedness there is, however, one 
fortunate limitation, for after adult life has been reached, and 



32 HYGIENIC REQUIREMENTS 

the school and college work has been completed, this increase of 
myopia generally comes to a standstill, unless the changes have 
already been extreme ; and if one has reached his twenty-first 
year without developing any near-sightedness, there is very little 
chance of beginning these changes, even with a large amount of 
near work. For instance, among watch-makers, jewelers, and 
others, whose occupation obliges them to use their eyes con- 
stantly at short distances, there is only a small proportion of 
near-sightedness ; but these men generally begin their cpecial 
work after they have passed their eighteenth year,- when the 
tissues of the eye and of the body have acquired firmness and 
maturity ; and also much of their work is done with the aid of a 
magnifying glass, which lessens the danger, and relieves to some 
extent the strain upon the ocular muscles. 

While the eyes are well and strong we are apt to forget how 
very complicated a process reading is ; for the different muscles 
of the eye work together so quietly and without any voluntary 
effort, that it is only when we overtask them that we begin to 
discover the complexity of action. When a child reads a book, 
two sets of muscles are brought into play. With one set the 
power of the eye is increased by changing the shape of the lens. 
so that the rays of light from the book are brought to a focus 
properly on the retina ; by the other set the axes of the two eyes 
are turned toward each other, so that they are united at the 
point looked at, and with the eyes in this relative position, they 
are made to follow the lines of print back and forth across the 
page. 

The popular idea that near-sighted eyes are stronger than 
others is a mistake ; it comes from the ability which they have 
to see small objects, such as fine embroidery, or print, with 
greater clearness than other eyes, owing to the work being held 
nearer the eyes, and the images on the retina being larger. 
Again, these myopic eyes do not have to put on glasses for read- 



OF SCHOOL FURNITURE. S3 

ing, at an age when other people require them, but this ability 
must not be presumed upon ; for the strength of such eyes is 
only apparent, and no account is taken of the deeper seated 
changes which they have often undergone, or of the danger of 
more extensive complications which may result, in case they are 
abused. 

In examining the children of some public schools in New 
"York, Dr. Loring found that among those of German parentage, 
.24 fo were near-sighted ; those of American descent showed 19 <f \ 
and those of Irish parentage had only 14 $ j while Dr. Calhoun 
found among 500 colored children 3.4 </<> myopic in one school and 
1.2 $> in another. These figures seem to show that the children 
of those nationalities where study and eye- work are most com- 
mon, have the larger proportionate amount of myopic change ; 
while those accustomed to the greatest amount of out-door life, 
and using their eyes almost entirely for distant things, are com- 
paratively free from it. 

Among the Germans the prevention of near-sightedness, or 
its mitigation, has been carefully considered, and the new- 
schools with their many improvements have already shown 
a relative decrease of myopia among their scholars. 

Careful attention should be paid to the construction of 
the desks and seats, their adaptability to the height and 
size of the occupants, and to the seating of the scholars at 
their desks, for not only is myopia caused by faulty positions 
and furniture, but some forms of spinal curvature may also 
be traced to this source. 

The distance from the seat to the top of the desk should 
be two centimeters greater than the space from the elbow 
to the seat, when the arm is held at the side. The top of 
the desk should have an inclination and should project back- 
ward so as to overhang the edge of the seat by two or three 
centimeters. The seat should be raised above the floor the 



34 HYGIENIC REQUIREMENTS 

length of the child's leg, measured from the sole of the foot*; 
to the underside of the thigh, when the knee is bent at right, 
angles ; it should be deep enough to support the whole length 
of the thigh, and should have a proper support for the 
back. 

According to Dr. Fuchs, the scholar has a proper position 
when his body is vertical with pelvis, and shoulders parallel 
to the edge of the desk, and the head straight or only slightly 
inclined forward. The feet should rest on the floor, and the; 
back be supported by a rest. In writing, only the forearm, 
and not also the elbow, should rest on the desk. In order to 
accomplish this, many sizes of desks, adapted to the different 
heights of the scholars, will be needed. But as it would be 
next to impossible, for those who have charge of the selection 
of school desks, to calculate on an average height of scholars, 
or to predict ^the number of scholars of one height or another, 
then the most desirable plan would be that recommended 
by Drs. Carpenter, Oldright, Guillaume, Rice, Calkins ; and 
such practical men (members of School Committees and Super- 
intendents of Schools) as Messrs. W. H. Burges, T. M. Balliet,, 
J. F. Chapin, M. T. Pritchard, Frank Borden, Rev. Dr. R. J. Barry, 
and many others. These eminent scientists and gentlemen of 
education believe in, and advocate, a system of adjustable desks 
and seats, which could be regulated to suit scholars of any age,, 
height or size. 

The principle here insisted on involves a great change in 
our school methods, but by no means an impossible change. 
Let once the necessity of it be widely felt, and the reform 
"will get itself made," as has been wisely said. It need not 
involve a great increase of absenteeism. 



OF SCHOOL FURNITURE. <>£> 

Russia was among the first to take actual practical steps 
to introduce proper school furniture, and she appointed a 
committee composed of Professors, Teachers, Physicians, Scien- 
tists, Hygienists and Architects, their chairman being Prof. 
V. P. Kochanowsky, whose duty it was to investigate and 
report. This committee, aided by Drs. Erismann and Farrier, 
were directed to ascertain, if possible, the exact manner in 
which ill-constructed desks and seats affect the eyesight and 
the forms of children, and to determine on such a construc- 
tion of school furniture as would practically obviate the ill 
effects. 

This committee appear to have made an exhaustive ex- 
amination of the subject, to have ascertained the exact causes 
of the near-sightedness, curved spines, and the other evils 
before alluded to, and to have then set themselves to fur- 
nishing a remedy. They measured many thousands of pupils, 
studied their attitudes when at their desks, and concluded 
by compiling a table of details to be used in the construction 
of desks and chairs suited to all heights and sizes of pupils 
of each sex. 

In their examination they found that scholars, while occupy- 
ing desks and seats unsuited to their heights, involuntarily 
assume positions injurious to their healthy development and 
growth, and that such desks do, beyond all question, conduce to 
the evils before mentioned, — the fact being that no pupil can for 
any length of time occupy such a desk and escape ill conse- 
quences to a greater or less degree. They also found that the 
injury is caused during writing exercises by an enforced habit of 
bending the head forward or inclining it to the left, and during 
reading lessons by the pupils being obliged to bend the head 
downward. 

In each of the above mentioned positions the centre of 



36 



HYGIENIC REQUIREMENTS 



gravity of the head was found to be diverted from, its natural 
position over the spinal column, and the head, therefore, had to 
depend for its support on the muscles of the neck, kept thereby 
in a state of high tension. 




coMeri T&co; 



Fijrure 17. 



The fatiguing effect of such dependence on the muscles for 
support is strikingly evident when any one stretches out his arm 
straight from the body (say at an angle of about 90°), and tries 
to hold it there nearly horizontal. The deltoid muscle is called 
npon for support ; and, though at first it appears very easy to 
hold the arm thus, the fact is that no one can keep it so 
extended longer than about five minutes, as the weight of the 
arm soon overcomes the muscle power that supports it. 
■ Now, the case is the same when the muscles of the neck and 
back are called upon to support the head of the scholar, which 
ishould undoubtedly be balanced by the muscles, but get its sup- 
port by resting on the spine. These muscles, if called upon for 
an angular support, soon become fatigued, and in turn act for- 
cibly on the ribs, which distend by being forced out from their 
natural position. As the fatigue increases the head droops, and 
the spinal column bends more and more as its leverage becomes 



OP SCHOOL FURNITURE. 



37 



greater. The fatigue at length becomes so great that the pupil 
can get relief only by supporting his head on one or both 
hands, or by assuming some other still more unhealthy position. 




Figure 18. 

The ill effects of the struggle that thus goes on between the 
muscle power and the power of weight show themselves most 
conspicuously when the pupil leaves his desk and assumes an 
upright position. He finds himself stiffened and cramped, and 
invariably stretches himself as if recovering from a cramp, 
turning his head from side to side and lifting his arms with 
evident pleasure. 

As this tendency, both in writing and in reading, to bend the 
liead forward and to the sides, was shown to be so injurious, the 
committee endeavored to ascertain why it was that the pupil 
assumed these injurious positions, for if the cause were deter- 
mined it might lead to finding a remedy. They ascertained 
that, in writing exercises, the pupils who occupied desks or seats 
that were either too high or too low, or with the back support 



38 



HYGIENIC REQUIREMENTS 



of the chair too near the desk or too far from it, did not see the 
points of their pens, and that, in reading exercises, they were 
obliged to lower their heads to see their books clearly. 

In the opinion of the committee such positions are the cause 
of a struggle between the muscle power and the power of 
weight ; and as the muscle power can never overcome for any 
length of time the power of weight, such struggle ought to be 
avoided by furnishing desks and seats that will not necessitate 




Figure 19. 



any movement of the head, either backward or forward, or 
cause the pupils to lift their shoulders, rest their heads on their 
arms, or take any other unnatural position. Following the 
suggestion of Prof. Meyer, they finally decided that the only 
healthy position for the scholar to assume at the desk is to sit 
upright, with the centre of gravity of the body supported by the 
seat, exactly as the centre of gravity of the body is supported 
by one's feet while in a standing position ; that this position 



OF SCHOOL FURNITURE. 39" 

required each pupil to have a desk and seat specially adapted 
to him in height and size, so that he should neither be crowded, 
nor have too much space in which to move, but enough only to- 
enable him to sit in comfort and to change his position if requisite. 

At the close of the report the committee recommended a new 
system and presented details for the construction of school" 
desks and chairs, and this system has been adopted in many 
of the European schools. 

Now, in this country very great attention has been paid to* 
school furniture ; and the American manufacturers of it build 
some four or six different sizes of desks and chairs,— a number, 
as they think, sufficiently large to cover all sizes that may ever 
be required. But an element of some difficulty needs to be con- 
sidered here. 

The system, to be wholly satisfactory, requires that each 
pupil shall at all times have a desk and seat that are suited 
to him. But the statures of young children are constantly 
changing from time to time; and, added to this, the entrance 
of new pupils and the departure of old ones, cause constant 
changes in the requirements of schools as to the height and 
size of their seats ; so that a school may be fitted at the be- 
ginning of the school year with the proper allotment of the 
different sizes, and yet, by reason of the changes above indi- 
cated, this outfit may soon be imperfect. In such an emer- 
gency what is to be done ? It will not do to let the pupils 
occupy desks that have become unsuited to them, and it would 
not be possible, except at great expense, to be continually 
changing the desks for new ones. 

It is to surmount these difficulties, and to secure at all times 
for each pupil a desk and seat that will exactly suit him, that 
I was led to design a system whereby a desk and chair 
might be made to suit the height and size of any scholar. 

In my designs I have closely followed the details recom- 
mended by the most prominent American and European scien- 



40 HYGIENIC REQUIREMENTS 

tists, which I have compared by means of cross sections and 
profiles with those used by the American manufacturers of 
school furniture. 

The accompanying cuts, with a brief description, will illus-. 
trate the desk and chair, and the plan on which they may be 
constructed. 

The tubular standards of the desk and seat are made of 
cast iron. To insure a firm support on the floor, the standards 
are provided with round bases, 12 inches in diameter for the 
desk, and 11 inches in diameter for the chair. The central 
portion of the standard is provided with a socket, which re- 
ceives the adjustable support or bar, h. 



Figure 20. 

This adjustable support or bar, h, is made of steel (1}& inches 
in diameter) and is provided with a longitudinal groove or chan- 
nel, g (Figure 20), and on the other side opposite it is cut a vertical 
row of notches, k (Figure 21), which do not, however, project 
beyond the solid parts of the bar. Fastened to the upper end of 
the standard is a catch, I, the inner end of which projects into the 
interior of the standard, so as to engage, under certain conditions, 
with the notches of the vertically movable bar or support, h, 



OF SCHOOL FURNITURE. 



41 



That side of the standard which faces the longitudinal groove, 
g, is provided with two interiorly threaded bosses through 
which set-screws or binding screws, m-m or n-n, are inserted. 




Figure 31. 

The inner ends of the set-screws are provided with flat surfaces, 
so as to form right angles with the square groove of the support. 
These set-screws form the essential means by which the desk-top 




Figure 33. 



or chair-seat is permanently fastened in its adjusted position r . 
and as a supplementary function, when loosened they prevent 
the desk or chair from turning during the process of raising or 



42 



HYGIENIC REQUIREMENTS 



lowering it. The notches, k, in conjunction with the retaining 
pawl, I, merely form a temporary hold (contributing, however, 
also to the permanent fastening) for the desk-top or chair-seat 
while being adjusted for a permanent position. 

Now, if it is desired (we will say) to raise the desk-top or 
chair-seat (as the case may be), the binding set-screws, ra-ra or 
?i-n, are loosened by a key applied to the square heads, so that 
the grooved support, h, will have some play or lateral motion in 




Figrure S3. 

the socket. By now taking hold of the desk, it will automatically 
tilt backwards, so as to release the series of notches from the 
inner end of the catch, L In this position the desk-top or chair- 
seat may be easily adjusted to any desired elevation, and by 
letting it go, it will (owing to the preponderancy of weight on 
one side) automatically and without any effort on the part of the 
operator tip back into such a position that the notches will inter- 
lock with the projecting inner end of the catch, I. By then 
tightening up the set-screws the movable supporting-bar, h, and 
with it the desk-top or chair-seat, will be firmly and permanently 
locked and held in its adjusted position, in which it will remain 
jmtil occasion shall arise to readjust it, either up or down. 



OP SCHOOL FURNITURE. 



43 



The seat is secured to a casting, which projects beyond the 
rear part of it, and extends downwardly in an oblique or 
inwardly slanting direction. Two brackets (one on each side) 
are recessed on their outer sides, to form ways which are 
adapted to receive the slotted arms of the chair-back. 

The back support of the chair is adjustable in two directions, 
viz. : horizontal and vertical. The horizontal adjustment is 
designed for the purpose of setting the chair-back nearer to or 




Figure 24. 

farther from the desk, and the vertical for the purpose of setting 
it higher or lower, so as to be in a line with or below the shoulder 
blades of the occupant. Both adjustments are very important. 
In my designs I have provided means whereby this two-fold 
adjustment of the chair-back may be effected simultaneously 
by a single operation. 

By loosening the bolts, o-p, the chair-back may readily be 
adjusted to any desired elevation, while on account of the 
angle or obliquity of the brackets in their relation to the seat, 
the chair-back will at the same time, and without requiring any 
separate adjustment, be moved rearwardly from the desk or seat 
to a distance which shall be commensurate or appropriate to its 



44 



HYGIENIC REQUIREMENTS 



degree of elevation. After the proper two-fold adjustment has 
been effected, the chair-back is secured firmly in its adjusted 
position simply by tightening the bolts, o-p. 




Figure 25. 

The above-described adjustable desk and chair possess the 
following advantages, viz. : 

1st. They are adjustable in every desirable way, and each 
adjustment is entirely independent of the others, so that the 
exact hygienic requirements of each pupil may be provided for. 

2d. None of the adjustments can be effected without the use 
of a wrench or key (in care of the teacher or any other author- 
ized person) so that when the desk and chair have been once 
adjusted, they cannot be altered in any way by the pupil, but 
will stand in the position for an indefinite period of time. 

3d. They are made very strong, and are constructed in the 
simplest manner possible. They can therefore be manufactured 
and placed upon the market at little expense. 



OF SCHOOL FURNITURE. 



45 



4th. The bases being round and plain, they do not interfere 
with sweeping, and the school-room can be kept clean from dirt 
and dust which now accumulates on and between the brackets. 

5th. They may be manufactured in but two sizes, which will 
meet the requirements of any school, and will accommodate 
scholars of any height and size without exception. 

Size No. 1 is adapted to Primary, Intermediate and Grammar 
Schools. The desk can be adjusted to any height from 20 inches 
to 28)4 inches, and the chair from 11 to 16% inches ; so as to 
suit scholars of any height from 3 ft. 4 in. to 5 ft. 4 in. 

Size No. 2 is adapted to Intermediate, Grammar, High and 
Normal Schools, and Colleges. The desk can be adjusted to any 
height from 23% inches to 30% inches, and the chair from 13% to 
18 inches ; so as to suit scholars of any height from 4 ft. 2 in. to 
6 ft. 2 in. 

As ''seeing is believing," I invite particular attention to the 
accompanying cuts (Figures 26, 27, 28 and 29). They are repro- 
ductions from photographs taken from life, of persons of different 
heights, occupying an adjustable desk and seat adjusted for 
each occupant. 



Figure. 


Height 

of 

Occupant. 

Ft, In. 


Height 

of 
Desk. 

Inches. 


Height 

of 
Chair. 

Inches. 


Width of 

Seating 

Space. 

Inches. 


26 


s-n 


204 


H* 


9i 
101 


27 


4-4 


24* 


■14 


28 


5-2 


29 


16* 


13 


29 


5-5* 


29f 


m 


13 



These four changes are, of course, but examples ; the num- 
ber of changes possible is unlimited, as both desk and seat may 
be moved vertically to any height required, and the chair-back 
may be moved vertically and horizontally. This latter move- 
ment is very important in adapting the seat to the use of girls, 
whose form and dress render it necessary to have greater space 
between the desk and the chair-back. 



46 



HYGIENIC REQUIREMENTS 




Figure 26. 

Height of occupant, - - 3 ft. 7-J- in. 

" desk, - - - 20f inches. 

" seat, - - - 11| " 

Width of seating space., - 8J " 



Figure 39. 

Height of occupant, - 5 ft. 5|in 
" desk, - - 29f in. 
" seat, - - - 17-| 

Width of seating space, 13 




m mm J 




Figure 29. 



OF SCHOOL FURNITURE. 



47 




Figure 28. 

Height of occupant, - - 5 ft. 2 in. 

" desk, - - - - 29 inches. 

" seat, - - . - - 16£ " 

Width of seating space, - 13 <: 






ill III 
ill 



■t ■;■:% 



L-V,l 



Figure 28 



Figure 27. 

Height of occupant, - - 4 f 

" desk,- - - - 24£incl 

" seat. - - - - 14 ' 

Width of seating space, - 10£ 




Figure 2 7. 



48 



HYGIENIC REQUIREMENTS 



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OF SCHOOL FURNITURE. 



49 



If an adjustable desk and seat is useful in the school- 
room, it is evidently no less valuable in the home of the 
pupil if he passes much time there at his studies. To meet 
this requirement an adjustable desk and chair may be set up 
on a platform, carpeted if desired, and on castors, to render- 
it easily transportable. 




Figure 31. 



DRAWING DESKS. — In giving lessons in drawing in ele- 
mentary schools, the ordinary desk will be found sufficient ; but. 




Figure 33. 

in the advanced classes a properly constructed drawing-desk oa 
easel will be found indispensable. 



50 HYGIENIC REQUIREMENTS 

TEACHERS' DESKS. — Many forms of teachers' desks are 
in use. Any of them will answer the purpose if they have the 
following qualities : A large, level, table-like surface on the top, 
not less than two and a half feet wide by five feet long, with a 
ledge not higher than three or four inches at each end and the 
back, and a movable inclined surface for writing on, if desired. 
If the ledge is higher, it will interfere with the teacher's view of 
a class in front of him, and may impede the pupil's view of 
articles or experiments when exhibited on the desk ; and the 
inclined writing surface should be movable, to leave the whole 
desk-top free for similar occasions. It should have no deep box 
•or well, but drawers underneath or at the side, and shelves with 
doors, or both, always accessible without disturbing the articles 
necessarily placed on the top. 

TEACHERS' CHAIRS.— The platform should have at least 
one large, comfortable and sedate-looking chair ; not that the 
chiir, or the desk, or any other part of the school-room furniture 
or apparatus will supply any defect in the teacher ; but every 
proper means should be adopted to add to the respectability of 
his position, and the dignity of his office. The platform should 
also have several other chairs for visitors, and particularly for 
the board of trustees, who, when they visit the school, should 
always, during at least a portion of their stay, appear on the 
platform, and be seen and known in their official character. 
Children are naturally inclined to be much influenced by the 
presence of those in authority ; and it is a great error in any 
system for the education of the people, whose laws and the 
agents of whose laws depend wholly on voluntary obedience, 
to weaken — or rather not to strengthen — this right feeling. This 
salutary habit of respect for the law and its officers will not 
only be strengthened by the official reception and presence of 
school trustees, but the teacher will find his heart cheered and 
his hands strengthened by their frequency. When it is known 
that this is a matter of periodical recurrence, it will be expected 



OF SCHOOL FURNITURE. 



51 



and prepared for ; and when the rules of the school are under- 
stood to emanate from other authority, and their results to be 
reported to another tribiinal, parents will have an additional 
motive for conformity, and pupils one more strong stimulant 
to progress. 

THE PLATFORM. — In all contracts for the erection of 
school-houses, the platform should be included, and it should 
be ample and substantial. The north end of the main room has 
frequently been pointed out as the most desirable situation ; but 
this will depend on the position of the house and of the windows. 
The platform should extend across the whole end or side of the 
room where it is placed, if not curtailed by doors ; and it should 
be one full step higher than the floor, but probably two steps 
will be found equally useful for ordinary purposes, and more so* 
in times of exhibition, etc. 

No platform should be narrower than four feet, but five 
would be better, and six ample for all purposes. 

THE BLACKBOARD.— By ail competent teachers, the 
blackboard is known to be the most useful, and, next to seats 
and desks, the most indispensable article of school furniture. 
With a sufficiency of blackboard, the well-qualified, experi- 
enced teacher can do almost anything in the way of instruc- 
tion ; without it, he feels himself at a loss in every branch. 
As to the quantity requisite, it may be said that it can readily 
be too little, but cannot well be too great. The whole wall 
behind the teacher's seat, and all the spaces between the win- 
dows and doors on the other walls, if covered with good black 
surface, extending five feet upwards, from a point two feet 
above the floor or platform, would not be too much ; but a 
blackboard of the height specified, and extending the whole 
length of the platform, is indispensable. This position faces 
the whole school, and is, therefore, the most suitable for the 
instruction of the whole at once ; while it is as proper as any 
other for the use of individual pupils. 



LIBRfiRY OF CONGRESS 



002 343 573 1 • 



It is the author's desire to 
make this work as complete 
as possible, and any criti- 
cism or suggestion that may 
be offered on the subject will 
be thankfully received and 
appreciated. 



